Charging means

ABSTRACT

A tilting arc furnace has a roof through which liftable electrodes are passed and to which furnace material charging tubes are applied, both the electrodes and the charging tubes requiring to be removed free from the roof to permit tilting of the furnace. The electrodes have lifting arms and the tubes pass through the arms and above the arms have carriers which during the lifting action of the arms, are engaged by the arms so that the tubes are simultaneously lifted, both the electrodes and tubes lifting free from the furnace roof for tilting of the furnace.

United States Patent 1191 Marchner 1 CHARGING MEANS [75] Inventor: Jan Marchner, Vasteras, Sweden [73] Assignee: Allmanna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget, Vasteras, Sweden [22] Filed: Nov. 22, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 308,712

30 Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 1, 1971 Sweden 15362/71 [52] US. Cl. 13/10, 13/33 [51] Int. Cl F27b 14/02, 1105b 7/00 [58] Field of Search 13/10, 33

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,426,643 9/1947 Ridgway 13/10 2,579,885 12/1951 Upper [111 3,835,232 Sept. 10, 1974 3,472,649 10/1969 Sibakin et a]. 13/33 UX Primary Examiner-Roy N. Envall, Jr.

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Kenyon & Kenyon Reilly Carr & Chapin [57] ABSTRACT A tilting arc furnace has a roof through which liftable electrodes are passed and to which furnace material charging tubes are applied, both the electrodes and the charging tubes requiring to be removed free from the roof to permit tilting of the furnace. The electrodes have'lifting arms and the tubes pass through the arms and above the arms have carriers which during the lifting action of the arms, are engaged by the arms so that the tubes are simultaneously lifted, both the electrodes and tubes lifting free from the furnace roof for tilting of the furnace.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1 CHARGING MEANS The present invention relates to a means a tilting arc furnace via its roof.

An arc furnace is described in Swedish patent application No. 14265/71 (my US. application, Ser. No. 304,894, filed Nov. 9, 1972). This furnace is tiltable, a problem being to detach charging means connected to its roof, quickly during the tilting, and after the tilting and when the furnace is in stationary position, to apply the charging means quickly to the furnace roof. Other types of furnaces have similar problems.

The invention aims at a solution to this and other related problems and is characterized in that a number of vertical and linear liftable charging tubes for pellets, charging materials, alloying elements or the like are drawn or arranged from above the furnace roof to the charge, suitably one tube per electric phase, which tubes are passed through the furnace roof or to charging openings in said roof, and eachtube is vertically lifted and lowered by oneelectrode when the latter is raised and lowered, respectively, as required for furnace tilting operations.

Charging of material is quickly and easily carried out by means of these tubes and also an even distribution between the different tubes is possible. Simultaneously, the tubes can be lifted quickly so that they do not impede the tilting of the furnace.

The invention is exemplified schematically in the accompanying FIG. 1 which is an elevation view, and FIG. 2 shows the same furnace in cross section taken on the line 2-2 in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 shows an enlargement of details in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an arc furnace having three vertically movable electrodes 11, 12 and 13, drawn through a liftable and lowerable furnace roof 14. The electrodes are attached to and liftable by electrode arms 15, 16, 17 in the usual manner, said electrode arms being operated by means of hydraulic or electrical drive means (not shown), and the vertical electrode masts M which slidably support the electrode arms are in the shown case attached to the roof R above the furnace, or in some other foundation close to this same location. This is an advantage where there is a lack of space.

From the upper part of the foundation, three feeding tubes 18, 19, 20 are drawn or passed down through openings in the electrode arms -17, one tube per electrode, but of course it is possible to increase this number. From a distributing container 21 pellets, alloying elements, charging materials, etc. are supplied, relating to metallurgical adjustments of the charge; possibly parts of this, possibly the whole charge should be charged in this way.

From the container 21 materials are fed down through the tubes 18-20 into the charge, and as can be seen the tubes are in this case drawn through the electrode arms 15-17. Each arrangement is as shown by FIG. 3, the arm 16 having a tube passage 19a for the tube 19.

One or more carriers 22, 23, are applied on each for charging tube, and when the electrode arm 16 is lifted far enough to lift the electrode 12 from the furnace roof (see also FIG. 3), this arm engages the carrier 22 which with the tube to which it is attached is also lifted up from the furnace roof 14, either from a position where it has been passed down through the roof, or from a position where it was connected to a stud passage 24 at the roof.

Thus, when the electrodes are drawn up before tilting the furnace, the tubes are simultaneously removed from the roof and do not impede the tilting.

Screens 25, 26, 27 are arranged close by the electrodes so that in the event one electrode is drawn up but not the other, the cable C and other parts of the last-mentioned electrode are protected from radiation heat damage caused by the electrode drawn up which is, of course, very hot.

As shown by FIG. 1, when the electrode arms are adjusted up and down for are control in the furnace, the arms 15-16 remain free from the tube carriers 2223, so the tubes remain in their correct charging positions, for example resting on and in connection with one of the stud passages 24 shown in FIG. 3, via the lower end of the tube involved. When the electrode arms lift the electrodes free from the furnace roof 14 for furnace tilting, the arms engage and lift the carriers so that the charging tubes are also lifted free from the furnace roof. When the electrode arms again lower the electrodes, the tubes are returned to their connection with the furnace roof.

The means according to the above can be varied in many ways within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A tilting arc furnace having a roof, at least one electrode liftably passed through said roof, a lifting electrode arm for lifting said electrode free from said roof to permit the furnace to tilt, and a furnace material charging tube connecting with said roof and requiring removal to permit the furnace to tilt; wherein the improvement comprises means for connecting said tube with said arm so that when the latter lifts said electrode free from said roof it also lifts said tube free from said roof to permit said furnace to tilt.

2. The furnace of claim 1 in which said means is provided by said tube being vertical and passed through said arm with the tube provided with a carrier above said arm and engagable thereby when lifting said electrode to thereby also lift said carrier and tube.

3. The furnace of claim 2 in which said carrier is normally spaced above said arm to permit the latters electrode adjusting movement without engaging said carrier.

4. The furnace of claim 2 in which the furnace has a plurality of individuallyliftable electrodes and arms and each electrode has a cable, and screens are positioned to shield the cable of an electrode which is not lifted when another electrode is lifted to a position where it would otherwise radiate its heat to that cable. 

1. A tilting arc furnace having a roof, at least one electrode liftably passed through said roof, a lifting electrode arm for lifting said electrode free from said roof to permit the furnace to tilt, and a furnace material charging tube connecting with said roof and requiring removal to permit the furnace to tilt; wherein the improvement comprises means for connecting said tube with said arm so that when the latter lifts said electrode free from said roof it also lifts said tube free from said roof to permit said furnace to tilt.
 2. The furnace of claim 1 in which said means is provided by said tube being vertical and passed through said arm with the tube provided with a carrier above said arm and engagable thereby when lifting said electrode to thereby also lift said carrier and tube.
 3. The furnace of claim 2 in which said carrier is normally spaced above said arm to permit the latter''s electrode adjusting movement without engaging said carrier.
 4. The furnace of claim 2 in which the furnace has a plurality of individually liftable electrodes and arms and each electrode has a cable, and screens are positioned to shield the cable of an electrode which is not lifted when another electrode is lifted to a position where it would otherwise radiate its heat to that cable. 